"This is a lie": Pokemon GO community unhappy that Purified Gems bug still persists

In the spirit of Pokemon GO's newest Taken Over event bringing Shadow Raids back, another bug has reared its head to the dismay of the playerbase. This time, the issue appears to be related to the Purified Gem item that one can use to calm down the Shadow Raid Boss from its enraged state.

Since Shadow Raid Battles are one of the big draws to this Pokemon event, many players are upset that this bug is in the game, especially after Niantic promised to fix it almost one year ago. One user on the Silph Road subreddit pointed out this broken promise in a recent post, stating:

"This is a lie... Some players will see this old tweet and believe it to be true today, because Niantic has not acknowledged any new bugs for this since. With Mewtwo coming up, Niantic needs to address this ASAP."

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This is a lie. byu/skewtr inTheSilphRoad

Comment byu/skewtr from discussion inTheSilphRoad

Comment byu/skewtr from discussion inTheSilphRoad

As can be seen, the issue of Purified Gems disappearing from players' inventories without the item's effect taking place in-battle has been prevalent in Pokemon GO since last year. It is unclear if this issue was widespread for the duration of the year, mostly due to the community's lacking interest in these complicated fights.

With Shadow Mewtwo making its return, many players have been incentivized to try Shadow Raid Battles once again, only to realize that last year's bug is still apparent. Another player showed that this glitch is still in the game by presenting their screenshots after a recent fight against Shadow Raikou.

Shadow Raikou will consume 10 gems and not become subdued byu/skewtr inTheSilphRoad

Comment byu/skewtr from discussion inTheSilphRoad

Comment byu/skewtr from discussion inTheSilphRoad

The frustration this glitch has caused the Pokemon GO community has led to many wishing the Purified Gems were never in the game to begin with. These items were introduced to calm down Shadow Raid Bosses from their enraged state. This enraged state only serves to make the battle more difficult, so eliminating the mechanic could be seen as a net positive.

Since Niantic has shown hesitance in fixing this glitch regarding this part of the fight, and the community dislikes the enrage mechanic entirely, it would seemingly be in every party's best interest to remove Shadow Raid Boss enrages. With more Shadow Raids coming to Pokemon GO in the near future, here are some things players should know to keep themselves safe from this issue.

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How to avoid Pokemon GO's Purified Gem glitch

There are some ways to avoid being effected by this annoying Pokemon GO glitch (Image via The Pokemon Company)

For the moment, it would seem like the only way to avoid being impacted by this glitch is to express caution when entering Shadow Raid Battles. Since this issue has yet to be fixed, it can be assumed that at the very least, it is not impacting a large number of players. However, these items can be quite tiresome to grind for, leading to many not wanting to risk their stash.

The best thing players can do is to keep an eye on the patch notes between updates. These newsletters that accompany new versions of the game often highlight specific issues that needed to be fixed. Since the Pokemon GO Taken Over event goes live in two days as of writing, there may be a hotfix in the near future that resolves the glitch.